Poser6 problem

Hi =)
Just starting on Poser6 animation... and I came across a strange, although maybe basic (for you!) problem...
the first keyframe is the "genric" pose, as required
Second frame, also a keyframe, contains the actual pose... for example sitting
The 10th frame, also a keyframe, contains the end action, as for example the character that stood up from the chair

What happens, when I try to play it, is that Poser tries to "normalize" the animation, so the first 5 frames are totally jumpy, and then everything comes back to normal.

Is there a way around that? Looks to me like Poser is trying to examine the first (default) frame, then the second, and then tries to calculate the possible motion from default pose to whatever next, which makes arms&legs fly in all directions.

Has anyone experienced that? Is there a way around it? maybe not making the 1st frame a keyframe?
Plz help, so totally annoying to redo all the anim frame by frame

The first frame, the referance frame should not be a keyframe. Also break the spline between the first and second frame and set the animation to only play frm frame two on. The 10th frame is also only 1/3 of a second after the fist frame, are you sure that's what you want? If this is going to be a static pose you only need two frames and if not you probably want a longer time from the start to the end, if you want it 10 seconds long it should be 300 frames long.

HtF's trick that works:

Make sure you ave at least SR-1 for Poser.

(A) Do your static pose right:

A.01 Make a two frame animation
A.02 Hit CTRL-A in both frames
A.03 Drop figure in both frames to the floor
A.04 Set animation frames/second to 10 or above but below 30
A.05 goto frame #2
A.06 Save this as factory default
A.07 pose your figure on frame #2
A.08 Export as .bvh
A.09 Preview in SL with Looping, "while walking" and Prio 3 or 4
A.10 Note any parts that move and consider if this is OK or not
A.11 Any not wanted but moving parts must be moved or rotated a bit in Poser
A.12 iterate from A.07 until satisfied
A.13 Save this as Poser file if you want to (I recommend it)

(B) Make it animated

B.01 Put the pose from frame #2 to a pose memory dot
B.02 Apply the pose to frame #1 as well (really, trust me)
B.03 Now set as many frames as wanted/needed
B.04 Apply pose to the last frame as well (smooth looping)
B.05 Now move the limbs as wanted/needed
B.06 Check the animation in the looping preview of Poser once in a while
B.07 When satisfied, save as Poser file (!)
B.08 Resample keyframes with setting 1 keyframe/frame
B.09 Goto frame #1
B.10 Hit CTRL-A again and drop the figure on the floor
B.11 Export as .bvh file
B.12 Import into SL and be happy

The main trick is B.08 which makes every frame a keyframe so it no longer matters what happens in frame #1. You can then safely reset it to the default position with absolutely no side effects to your animation. SL will "optimze" the file when it imports so you play it very safe, by not having SL second-guess your intentions. With every frame being a keyframe you are on the very safe side.

B.07 is also very important because it saves the file with only the changed limbs. If you find something isn't working you do not have to change many keyframes but only the ones in which your actor is changing - usually only a few.

It sounds complicated but once you have done it once or twice you'll notice it works like a charm and soon becomes second nature when doing long animated poses.

just a quick post with a big "thank you" for the useful comments =)
Really appreciate it!
Cheerz
Anna

i creat a pose and when i click ctrl-A it reverts me back to standing up. ill im trying to do is create a single pose and export to bvh but any time try and export to a bvh file it cant be read by SL what am i doing wrong how do i creat the single pose and export it so its read by SL in poser 6

@Keefer: if you only want to create a static pose, just reduce your frames to 2, leave the standard pose in frame 1 and only change the second frame. When you export your BVH file, make sure you click "Scale Automatically", otherwise SL won't import your animation.


For the animation problem I found an easy workaround:

1.) Create your animation using all frames, without keeping the generic (standard) pose in frame 1
2.) Export it as BVH
3.) Create a new document and add the SL figure in its standard pose
4.) Go to frame 2 and import the BVH file
5.) Export as BVH again and import to SL

If the first BVH file was 30 frames long and you import it while viewing frame 2, the new animation will consist of 31 frames with frame 1 left unchanged. Poser completely ignores previous frames when importing a BVH and doesn't try to normalize the animation.


Edit: I just saw that Htf's method is just as easy it only appeared complicated to me on first look. Could be shortened to:

1.) Save the standard pose
2.) Create animation
3.) Save pose in frame 1 and apply it to frame 2 (and the last frame, if it's meant to loop)
4.) Resample keyframes with 1 keyframe / frame
5.) Apply standard pose to frame 1 (or press Ctrl+A) and export as BVH

i was using the basic 6 not sr-3 but still when i press ctr-a it reverts my pose to the T pose arms out streached standing not the pose i was working on why does it say press ctrl-a if it changes the pose im working on to something else am i miising a step should i be doing something before i press ctrl-a?

i keep asking questions that looks like they are answered but i can't get to work. if any one want to talk to me off line or in game and maby help me with a more detailed step by step for a single pose i should be able to go from there but i still have the problem loading to SL i installed sr-3 did i need to install sr-1 and sr-2 as well? it very confusing sorry for being such a bother but i think im following you instrutions exactly but it still fails to read in SL im frazzled

I'm far from being a Poser Pro, but let me try to explain it
It's true, when you press Ctrl+A it does revert the current frame to the standard pose. You need the standard posture in frame 1 of any animation meant for SL.

When importing a BVH file, SL checks which joints are used. It does so by comparing frame 1 with the rest of the animation (frame 1 is only needed for this check and will never be played). If there's not enough change in any joint, this joint will be affected by the standard animations (air typing etc.), an unwanted effect in most cases. So you need a posture in frame 1 that is as different as possible from the following frames (all joints moved or rotated). That's why frame 1 is reverted to the standard T-pose, and the quickest way to do that is to press Ctrl+A.

Alas, Poser tries to keep the animation smooth and prevent sudden jerks. It affects the following frames too and creates a smooth changeover. To keep Poser from doing that, you need to either make a keyframe of every single frame or to import a previously saved BVH file.


A quick guide:

To create only a still posture, set the number of frames to 2, leave the standard posture in frame 1 and only change the second frame. Export it as a BVH file (be sure to click "Scale automatically" and you're done. No need to press Ctrl+A at any point.

For a longer animation, you need the standard pose in frame 1 too, but without poser trying to normalize (smoothen) between the keyframes. So before you change frame 1, select "Animation --> Resample Keyframes" from the menu and change the value in "Make keyframes every __ seconds" to 1. Then apply the standard T-pose to frame 1 by pressing Ctrl+A (while you view frame 1, otherwise you'll change the currently displayed frame). Export this as a BVH.

If that doesn't work for you, try this: create a normal animation and don't care about frame 1. Export it as BVH. Close the document, no need to save it. Start a new poser file, place the SL avatar, leave frame 1 unchanged, go to frame 2 and import your BVH file. Save it as a new BVH for import to SL.


IMPORTANT: With all the abovementioned methods, you can still mess it up during the import.
In SL's import window, be sure to set the priority to at least 3 or better 4 (highest priority, will prevent other animations from mixing with yours). Also set the fields "Ease in" and "Ease out" to 0, if you import a single posture, not a longer animation. Finally, don't forget to click "Loop" if you want the pose or animation to be played continuously. Preview before you upload it.


Don't give up try to follow these steps and I'm sure it will work out.


Edit: you can find a detailled guide at http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=050

i finaly figured it out and have started a few simple animations but if i try to make more frames animations they seem to mees up and get realy twisted up. what i have been doing is startung with the 2 frames and then ill add a 3rd change it a little and a 4th change that and so on and so on but when i go back and preview it the figure does not move in the positions i put it in am i doing something wrong

Hi
This is just a short list of some things I learned thru trial and error (mainly error)
and it's for longer animations 30+ frames.

1. Get familiar with how the "Break spline" works, poser tends to over do sertain
movements and things get all tangled up, breaking spline and deleting frames
is very helpful.
2. I use the "Lock Hands Parts" option to minimize the above problems
3. "Inveresed kinematics" can be used , but at times it also causes issues
so I turn it off when I need to fine turne some movements.
4. Understand the difference of the Center of gravity, since Poser uses the hip
while SL use the neck , no idea why this is but I keep it in the back of my head
when I work.

It's no quick thing to learn all this, it takes alot of work and uploading to finally
get shit right. One thing I am still learning is that arms for example tend to
differ along the X-axis from Poser to SL, meaning a animation that is claping hands
in poser (hands meet) while in SL there is a 2 inch gap between then hands, so u need
to make the hands overlap inside poser to make the hands meet in SL,, grrr anoying
as hell and if anyone here knows why this is, please let me know.

Epsilon

use Break Spline, a button at the top-right of the Animation Palette.

This question keeps coming up; I'm surprised it's not in the FAQ.